If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

Moving beehives during daylight. I see in this video they are netting the load to be shipped out.
I see, from my outside perspective, the hives are shipped into the California holding yards throughout day and night, also into the almond groves.
Do you guys see any evidence of drag down from loss of foragers due to moving and drifting?

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

I bet, hives that big, in fields of flowers, mid winter, I assume all that nectar would translate into brood. You would be able to split them down four ways to have them build for northern honey flows.

Originally Posted by RAK

Bees don't swarm in the winter. Splits and shakes all you need. Typically they will swarm like crazy right out of the almonds.

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

Right now my hives sit inside a wintering shed. There are about 1000 hives stacked four to six pallets high, each hive one box full of bees. They will sit there motionless until end of March. Down time.

Your bees get moved to California, worked and built up to spec, and used for pollination, then sent south to be worked and split for the countries honey flows. You guys beekeep year round, you get one extra season than we do here.

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

I do not see that first post, must be from the other topic I pulled the link from.

So, lets say I was able to send my hives south to pollinate in California,
I finish my summer work, prep my hives for winter, lock them up in my shed end of October.
Now, when would they leave the wintering shed to be shipped south?

>>feeding sub August-Jan

Im confused , one fellow is telling me they are hives locked in a cellar all winter before pollination, the other is telling me they have been fed sub from Aug to Jan, ??? Are they being fed in the shed?

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

Originally Posted by Ian

Im confused , one fellow is telling me they are hives locked in a cellar all winter before pollination, the other is telling me they have been fed sub from Aug to Jan, ??? Are they being fed in the shed?

Ian, I'm going to try one last time, I sold Nick & Tony Noyes the sub( Nutra Bee) for there bees, the same bees that you see in there video, they winter in Idaho cellars.

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

Clear as mud Keith, you have to understand Im only looking in at what you guys are doing, I know nothing of how migratory op work. I do know how bees act and react, and thats what I am not understanding. dates and timing and such.

My hives are a box of bees, much as what is seen in the vid. Probably not that big though,
I think he said it was Feb 5th in the vid. I see that he is feeding syrup and patties at that time. I assume he will put them into the field shortly.

So has he just pulled them out of the cellar then or have the hives been there for a while?

Re: YouTube "almond pollination 2012"

not 18 - 24 frames. Hard to compare, two totally different winter management ops. But id say my hives are averaging 7-9 frames of bees, not including my nucs, 2-3 frames for them.

Im managing in singles, and we manage our bees to shut down in fall instead of ranping up brood rearing. we shut them down, sort of. Starting mid Sept right off the honey flow we feed them syrup and have them plugged full of syrup by middle of October. No brood, just bees in one box or two. They do not see the day of light again until April. If we fed our bees pollen sub just as we put them in we would see big gut problems right about end of feb into march. And that box of plugged honey gets them nicely to April to when we can feed once again.